By Luke Mich
Over the past couple of weeks, I’m sure you have experienced times of stress, worry, boredom, and laziness. With the uncertainty of the Coronavirus pandemic, the concern over how many people will contract it and how long life will continue this, people have struggled to find ways to entertain themselves over this ongoing period of staying at home.
One of the greatest difficulties for many people, including myself, is the disappearance of live sports on TV due to nearly every professional and collegiate sports league worldwide cancelled, postponed, or delayed. However, for a short period, Saint Vincent and other PAC-participating schools still practiced off campus after most students left campus on Friday, March 13.
“All the athletes here have put [in] so much effort […] To see their seasons taken away from them is heartbreaking.”
The, temporary at the time, announcement to move classes online came on Thursday, March 12. A big question concerned sports activities and seasons: would they still go on? Would there be shortened spring seasons with conference championships? At the time, sports practices and events still went on through the rest of the night. One of our teams, the women’s lacrosse squad, played about three hours after the President’s announcement, defeating Mount Aloysius on the road 18-4. The men’s lacrosse team practiced during the release of the announcement. Both track teams continued their practices shortly after the announcement.
Despite the separation from coaches and fellow teammates, spring athletes were still optimistic enough to practice and train for a potential shortened season. In fact, some did practice from home to stay in shape and remain in form. As for me, I am a part of the track and field team, and I still practiced that weekend and ran according to the weekly schedule my coach provided me for the week of March 15. However, as the virus spread and reached Western Pennsylvania, the inevitable became official on Tuesday, March 17: classes would continue online for the rest of the semester, while all spring sports and activities would be cancelled.
"While I believe the change to online classes and cancelling the spring sports season is the best decision to slow the spread of the Coronavirus, it is saddening to say the least."
As an athlete, it’s frustrating to work so hard for meets, games, and other competitions, only for them to be cancelled. All the athletes here have put so much effort into their practices, their workouts, and lifting sessions that to see their seasons taken away from them is heartbreaking, especially for the seniors. Saint Vincent isn’t the only college in the PAC to do this; as of March 23, all but two schools have cancelled their spring sports seasons.
While I believe the change to online classes and cancelling the spring sports season is the best decision to slow the spread of the Coronavirus, it is saddening to say the least.